Portsmouth city councillors are meeting today and tomorrow to agree further cuts to the council’s budget for 2013/14.
But UNISON is warning that the threat to cut £17m will lead to further job losses – including 130 full-time posts, mainly in adult social care and children’s services.
UNISON branch secretary Lindsay Williams said: “Things are already bad for families in Portsmouth, with thousands losing their jobs. Every job lost in public services means a cut in services.
“These cuts are further attacks on the most vulnerable people in our communities. It is our members and our communities that are paying the price for the greed and excesses of the rich.”
She continued: “UNISON believes more – not fewer – local government workers are needed to support families in need during the recession. These cuts will mean fewer social care workers and fewer services for children and adults.
“The government’s idea that the private sector will fill the unemployment gaps left by these cuts in public services is a joke. The young and the vulnerable are suffering the most, with youth unemployment in the city at an all time high.”
Jon Woods, UNISON branch chair added: “Austerity isn’t working and our communities need a lifeline, not more cuts to the services they depend on. These cuts to our public services are criminal, with devastating effects on our communities and our economy.
“We need investment to get people back to work, houses for people to live in and more taxes from the rich paid to the treasury. UNISON members will not stand back and let this government turn the clock back to the 1930s.”
